Common - Finding Forever
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Free Music Notes for Finding Forever
Free Music Review: Common, you started the show years ago!
Hit: 4 Stars
BE proved to be the career boost that underrated, 'intellectual-styled' rapper Common needed to finally receive recognition. For years, Common has been one of the top voices of the 'alternative' rap movement but has failed to see true commercial success from his endeavors. It wasn't until LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE (a lift off an Alice Walker work perhaps?) that Common had ever received certification from RIAA for a gold album. That album wasn't even a top ten album as it peaked at #16. BE and the unstoppable ubiquitous Kanye West truly changed the directiont that Common's already brilliant, though commercially unsuccessful career was going. "The Corner" made people listen while "Go!" featuring an unlikely collaboration between Common, West & John Mayer produced some friction (though not what you would exactly call heat) on the pop radio. Despite only moderate success with singles (including the brilliantly over looked "Testify"), the album landed a #2 bow with nearly 200,000 copies (185,000) to be exact and sold nearly 800,000 copies trumping his former best, LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE. I say all this to say that it is no surprise that Common has a second successful album. How successful you ask? #1 Debut, 155,000 (down only 30,000 which isn't unusual), and three weeks as of yet spent in the top ten of the pop charts! Furthermore, FINDING FOREVER isn't quite as 'classic' as BE, but it is certainly Grammy material by all means of the word.
The album starts out with an awkward, unnecessary instrumental intro, but things heat up a more with the slightly awkward, but enjoyable "Start The Show" which features some of Kanye West's most 'interesting' production work to say the least. If "Start The Show" wasn't enough convincing for the hardcore Common fans, first single "The People" follows and is pure fire. It is just as strong as "The Corner". Even better is the unlikely collaboration between great U.K. starlet Lily Allen and Common on my personal favorite track "Drivin' Me Wild" where Allen's thin voice is perfectly suited for the hook. Just as perfect is Common's electrifying performance and West's brilliant production, particularly the programming.
"I Want You" is a bit of a miss from will.i.am in some regards, while in other regards it isn't bad and grows on you. "Southside" features none other than Common's 'mentor' West (even though Common is older and more experience as a rapper) while "The Game" proves to be more fire from the vet rapper. "So Far To Go" features a more present D'Angelo than we've seen since his "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" days and judging by his recent work here and his guest turn on Snoop Dogg's THA BLUE CARPET TREATMENT ("Imagine" featuring Dr. Dre as well), D'Angelo's is going to make some comeback. The above mentioned tracks are the real meat of FINDING FOREVER. Nothing here is bad, but the best are those that I've mentioned and payed particular attention to. Another Common masterpiece in my mind, even if it doesn't quite live up to the monster BE. 4 Stars.
Free Music Review: just okay, but growing on me
Hit: 3 Stars
Please don't mistake my rating for my overall impression of Common as an artist.
He's great and underappreciated.
I, however, AM NOT a diehard Common fan. Given the fact I loved his last album "Be" which has tons of replay value, I couldn't rank this one on that level because it doesn't have quite the same level of energy, originality or flavor in my opinion.
If you're a hardcore Common fan or purely love lyricists, you'll probably rate this as a 4 or 5-star LP (which is fine by me).
I just think this LP has too many five-star reviewers because I certainly think Common has and can do better than this offering.
Again, I'm NOT saying this is a bad album.
It's cool. It's solid. The lyrics are on point (as to be expected) and the production is fine.
This is something I'd buy (and did purchase) before more than half of what's been released in 2007.
But in my opinion this album lacks the same punch of "Be" so I'm not going to rank it as high.
Recommended for loyal Common fans.
(The "ChiTown Nas" could borrow some of the QB King's charisma! That would've made this a 5-star LP 4 real.)
Free Music Review: A good album
Hit: 4 Stars
What I like about this album, and about Common, is that its not lame. What I'm referring to is the crap thats out today commercially. All the cursing, ignorance, degrading of women, you just get tired of it. Common delivers a good album with sincere rhymes. My favorite tracks are "Start the Show", "The People", "The Game", "Black Maybe", and "Misunderstood". The album is very mellow. That might be the main downside though. The melodies kind of lull you to sleep but the lyrics keep you alert. Buy it if you enjoy real hip-hop.Free Music Review: Somewhat confused is the emotion I felt while listening to this CD.
Hit: 3 Stars
And I've noticed that I don't share the same opinion as most who have posted reviews about this CD. I'm even prepared to get a couple of thumbs down. But I can't just sit here and pretend that I liked the CD, because I didn't.
For starters, the 3 good songs here are:
The People
Drivin' Me Wild
Misunderstood
The problem with the song, The People is that he repeats himself over and over again. Drivin' Me Wild, however, was an unexpected surprise. The song features Lily Allen, a music industry n00b who I haven't quite figured out why she's so popular. To be honest, I didn't even expect to like the song before hearing it. But I do. Misunderstood just has a killer beat. Very addictive. But the main problem with even the good songs, is that Common has probably made better songs than these here.
The D'Angelo song just pissed me off because D'Angelo has such talent and the song itself doesn't really carry its own weight. And don't get me started on Start The Show and Southside - both of these showcase that Kanye has lost a bit of his creativity as a producer. And the latter is very annoying when Kanye repeats south SIDE, SIDE, SIDE, SIDE, SIDE, SIDE. The worst song is probably Break My Heart though. I don't think it's the greatest sample and the rest of the production seems lazy. Kanye can do SO much better. Check out his 2005 hit (at least it was in my opinion), I Changed My Mind by Keyshia Cole. That's how you produce a good song!
It wasn't a total loss but I'm still not proud to own this CD.
3 stars.
Free Music Review: REFRESHING!!!!!!!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Finally an album that speaks to and preaches positiveness to the masses! Well, that's something that we should expect from such a conscious brotha. But, the timing of the release of this album is good because hip-hop is going in such a contrary direction namely gangsta/explicit/misoginistic rap. Common's music, and in particular, this album sets the bar for what hip-hop or rap music should sound like. His style and even lyrics remind us of the art of lyricism. To be sure, listen to "The Game" (7th track on this album). You will find that it brings out Common's underlying message about hip-hop where it's from and where it's going. "Finding The People" is getting a lot of radio play. I'm glad about that because this track just nails the entire album. If you like this song, then you'll love the rest of the album because all of the other songs have similar strong background vocals and beats (thanks to Kanye West and DJ Premier). His lyrics are solid (also thanks to Kanye and numerous others including the Isley brothers on one track, Stevie Wonder on another, D'Angelo on yet another, etc.). You get the point. This brotha came full force for most tracks on this album. I can't tell you how many times I played tracks# 3, 5, 7, 8, 10. My God, bless his soul. (I also recommend his previous album "Be" that one is a GREAT one as well--thanks to the musical influence of Kanye. I'm not a big fan of him per se, but you have to give it to Kanye he has the musical genius to make extraordinary beats.) Anyway, get this album (or both) and you will not be disappointed. Common laid it down for us, blessed us, fed us, and quenched our thirst for some long awaited positive hip-hop. Refreshing!!
Thanks Common!
Bless up!!